peHUB First Read

* Damn, it was once good to be a banker. How incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel got rich.

* The advantages of corporate bankruptcy are dwindling.

* Everything’s down on morning call: U.S. futures, European shares at mid-day, UK’s FTSE, Hong Kong and Nikkei.

* KKR’s Scott Nuttall steps down from the board of Masonite, which keeps inching closer to bankruptcy. Seems the Canadian doormaker wasn’t thrilled with his conflicting roles as equity sponsor (via KKR) and as lender (he’s on the board of KKR Financial).

* Dear John Thain on how we got a corporatocracy.

* Joe Weisenthal notes that many banks in the UK have returned to the partnership model, in order to discourage risky behavior. Let’s return to this in six months, after we learn the full extent of the damage private equity partnerships caused by investing in corporate “opportunities” earlier this year.

* Knowledge @Wharton: How hedge funds can both curb critics and avoid regulation.

* Berkshire Hathaway’s credit risk soars.

* Everyone wants to hide under the TARP, except for shareholders.

* Wallstrip on education stocks, which is appropriate given the possibility that Grand Canyon Education could break the IPO drought this week (although it did just cut its price range again):